A Cup of Coffee and a Laptop
by princess-unatainnabelle
Summary: Peridot's a stressed out college student. Amethyst works at a local coffee shop. When they cross paths, you can expect the outcome...
1. Chapter 1

_I'm ready to die._

That was the first thought that came into Peridot's head as she stared at the prompt on her glaringly bright computer screen again.

 **MLA Format 1500-2000 words.**

And even worse,

 **Due 6:09AM, November 11.**

The rustic guitar music that filled the coffee shop did little to calm her as she slid her thumb over the power button on the side of her smartphone, triggering the dim display.

 **7:58 PM.**

 _That's okay,_ she thought. _I've got like a day…_

 **Date: November 10** _._

 _Shit._

Peridot drummed her fingers against the little cafe table she sat at, trailing her index finger on the grooves in the wood. Taking her junior seminar on Shakespeare seemed like a good idea when she enrolled, but now she was beginning to regret it. She was a college junior, pursuing her major in engineering, but her university required a certain number of liberal arts classes to graduate.

Peridot read the prompt one last time before shaking her head and running one hand through her coarse bleached hair. She really needed some coffee, especially if she was going to have to bullshit her way through an essay.

Lapis Lazuli, Peridot's regular barista, stood in front of the cash register, waiting impatiently for her customer to finish her ridiculously long order, her face a mask of pain. The woman before her was wearing oversized Prada sunglasses and toting a rather large white Gucci bag, which was as horrifyingly clean and bright as her close-fitting tennis whites. Beside her, there were two little boys running around her ankles, screaming about whether the were going to watch _Power Rangers_ or _Spongebob_ when they got home. Lapis had told Peridot she only took up this job for the health care benefits, and if there wasn't also _Spotify Premium_ , she would've quit by now.

As she wrote the woman's name on the cup, not really caring how many vowels there were in 'Mackleighlay', she felt a finger annoyingly poke her in the back. She turned, and was assaulted by a mass of thick hair inches from her face. If looks could kill, the girl would be dead by now.

"What are you doing here, you _never_ take the morning shift." Lapis said flatly, looking back and rolling her eyes at the retreating mom's back before slowly turning to face her coworker, Amethyst again.

"I just needed the extra hours, but Lapis," she said as she ducked them both behind the coffee bar, eyes barely peeking over the top.

"Who," She asked, gesturing out to the customers, "is _that?"_

Lapis just stared back at her blankly.

"Way to be specific." She said sarcastically as she hoisted herself up and trudged back to the register, followed by Amethyst whose voice had dropped to a whisper.

"The one with the _computer"_ She pointed over in the general direction of Peridot, quickly drawing back.

Lapis looked like she could hurl herself off of a cliff, but she tended to look like that at work anyway. Today though, it was mostly Amethyst.

"Amethyst," she said icily, "we have _free wifi._ Everyone has a laptop."

Amethyst furrowed her eyebrows, visibly irritated.

"The cute one, with the fluffy white hair and the green shirt, _THAT ONE."_ Her voice had risen back above speaking level at this point, and she let out a sigh as she ran her hand through her hair.

Lapis let out a tiny smirk before speaking, clearly amused. "That's Peridot, Amethyst. She's in here at like 6:00 a.m. or some crazy shit _every morning,_ and she just sits there until 12 and works. One coffee, no bathroom breaks, _just work."_

Amethyst just grinned back cheekily, a glazed look in her eyes as she rearranged some spice shakers.

"What if I like talked to her Lapis, gave her my number or something?" Her mouth said 'smug' but her eyes said 'desperate' as she spoke.

Lapis just turned back to the register and punched something in halfheartedly.

"Do whatever you want, just don't get it near me you animal" She brushed her bangs back and groaned before moving on to the next customer, an elderly man getting a lemonade.

"Thanks Lapis," Amethyst said sarcastically, going to prepare one of the orders left out behind the bar. She smiled to herself as she poured coffee into a cardboard cup, thinking to herself.

 _I can do this._

"That'll be $2.75. And your name for the cup?"

Peridot didn't even have to name her order, Lapis already knew. She uncapped a sharpie, waiting for the other to respond, even though they did this almost every day. _Company policy maybe,_ she thought to herself.

"Peridot?"

Lapis walked over to the back, tiredly, as Peridot gazed at the shop. The walls were a creamy beige, with rustic paintings of French decolletage, loaves of bread and old movie posters and all that, adorning the walls. Along the entrance were displays of coffee cups and diffusers for sale, and the windows were lined, inside the shop and out, with cafe tables, one of which had her laptop and papers strewn across it.

She looked back to Lapis, who held a cup under the steady stream of coffee coming from the brewer, watching it fill up slowly with unnecessary intensity, but Peridot suspected she was just exhausted. She always seemed to be exhausted.

Almost at that exact moment, a whirlwind of purple hair assaulted Lapis, causing her to jump and almost spill the coffee. She swore as she clutched the cup, her nails digging into the sides as she glared at her attacker.

"I'll finish making it," said the frantic barista in a breathless voice.

Lapis almost seemed to be debating whether or not to say something while placing the hot cup in the girl's already warm hands, but decided against it as she let out a dejected sigh. Her phone vibrated, signaling the end of her shift, and she smiled halfheartedly at a broken mug next to the cash register. She untied her apron and walked out the back, not even bothering to hang it up as she left out the back door.

Peridot gazed at the barista who had taken over for Lapis. Her heart skipped a few beats as she looked at her, unaware that she was staring. The woman was dancing around behind the coffee counter fixing up the drink like she was having the time of her life, and Peridot was enraptured.

Her nametag read _Amethyst_ in scrappy purple lettering. Amethyst had warm caramel skin and large dark eyes, with a spray of freckles on her nose and cheeks. Peridot suspected they were around the same height, but the other girl was curvier, with thick thighs, what seemed to be faint stretch marks peeking out of her shorts, and full lips painted a purple color. To top it off, she had the longest and thickest hair Peridot had ever seen on anyone her age, and it was all dyed an almost white lavender.

"Here's your coffee, have a nice day," heard Peridot as she almost dropped the warm drink unsuspectingly thrust into her hands. Her face turned a deep shade of vermillion as she realized she'd been staring at the girl behind the counter for the entire time she'd been in line, and had been holding it up. As she headed back to her table, Peridot could've sworn Amethyst winked at her as she went to help the next customer. Peridot lifted the steaming cup to her lips, but her eyes caught her name scribbled on the cup, or at least, what was under it.

A phone number.


	2. Chapter 2

Amethyst rolled her index finger over the lockscreen of her phone for the tenth time that morning, but it was still blank. With a groan, she set it, face up, on her cracked sink's off-white edge and lazily stared at her mirror. The only text she'd gotten since last night was another person asking about her roommate advertisement, this time a seedy thirty year old man named Carl with a 'fedora collection' that needed _all of her closet space_ , so no texts she actually cared about. This seemed like a sign, she thought with a sigh as she applied black eyeliner onto her lids with a heavy hand. Amethyst knew she'd taken a leap of faith in giving that girl her number, but she'd seen her in and out of the shop a few times and couldn't get her out of her mind. Last night, when she'd gotten home she could've sworn she checked her phone every five minutes until she finally passed out until three a.m.

 _What were you thinking, you probably creeped the hell out of her,_ she thought as she hastily locked the door behind her. The coffee shop wasn't far from her apartment, which was pretty convenient, but far enough to be a bit of a walk. She turned the corner to the shop, bundling her ratty coat around her neck. Amethyst didn't expect her to be at the coffee shop that day, but sure enough, there she was, fluffy bleached hair framing her angular lightly bronzed face. She was there when Amethyst opened the door and walked behind the counter at 7 a.m., shortly after they'd opened, so she must've gotten up _really damn early-_ which made sense, she supposed as she was some kinda student, as she powered up the register.

The girl was buried in a thick book, an entranced look on her face. Amethyst didn't want to bother her, so rather than saying anything, she fixed a latte for herself, (the entire coffee shop was empty anyways, and she needed a little caffeine boost). She hadn't had breakfast yet, but this would probably do fine. And, it served to take her mind off of things.

It was that time of the month, and Amethyst still had yet to pay her rent. That being said, she had booked it out of her apartment that morning and locked the door before the landlord could come pounding on her door again, but there was only so long she stall for.

She'd had that roommate ad out for weeks now, and all the response she'd gotten is odd texts from perverted men at three a.m.- maybe posting an ad on _Craigslist_ wasn't the best idea. Yet, as much as she'd like to abandon the search and move on, she just couldn't afford it. As shitty as that little apartment was, she couldn't live there with the classes she was taking, even working every shift she could at the coffee shop.

College wasn't cheap, and she was furiously working towards an art major with what little money she had. Her grades in high school weren't the best, and she never had any money as a kid, much less now. To say the least, she was struggling- but Amethyst tried not to think about it as she topped off her drink with foam, topping off the second one she'd made as well. She'd figured that, being that no one was there anyway, it'd be fine to make an extra latte for that girl. _And if I get in trouble for this,_ she thought, _I'll just deal._

She bit her lip in anticipation as she picked up both cups and carried them out, knocking the little door to the bar open with her hip. As she set the cup down, the girl whipped her head up as if she'd been yelled at.

"I didn't order anything, I'm so sorry I don't have any cash on me right now," She said frantically while patting her pockets, voice shaking. Amethyst laughed as she responded.

"No," Amethyst said, laughing with her hand on her thigh, "it's on the house."

The girl's eyes widened as if she'd had a realization. Amethyst hoped it was because she recognized her from yesterday. As she muttered a thanks and sipped the cardboard cup, Amethyst took this as an invitation to sit down.

"The name's Amethyst Riverez, what's yours?" Amethyst asked in a husky tone, clearly flirting.

"Um, uh, Peridot Saabi" She squeaked, face turning red. Amethyst smirked, settling into the chair across from her.

This was _fun._

"So, Peridot," Amethyst said, gently closing the other girl's laptop, "What is it you've been in here working on these few days?"

Peridot slid her laptop to the side and responded, while shuffling the papers alongside it.

"An essay for my Shakespearian lit seminar. We have to write a microanalysis on _A Midsummer Night's Dream,_ and how its themes tie into modern day materialism, and then comment on this materialism with respect to its effect on modern art and literature in the media, and-" Peridot let out a sigh, "It's due _tonight."_

Peridot laid her head down on the wooden cafe table with a sigh as she groaned. Amethyst didn't really know how to respond to this.

"It'll be okay, just, um, push through it?" She said weakly, awkwardly patting the girl's head.

"I haven't slept in two days," Peridot responded flatly. When she lifted her head up Amethyst noticed that she had heavy dark circles under her eyes, and looked washed out, exhausted really.

"Yeah, no that's definitely not healthy," Amethyst warned. "Dude, why don't you like, go home and take a nap, I'm sure your professor would be fine giving you an extension, you've gotta sleep," Peridot shook her head weakly, sliding her laptop over and opening it up again.

"You don't understand," she said mid-sentence with a yawn, "I can't stop now, and I still have to revise it and that's ten pages of revision and I _don't know what to do,_ ohhhhhhHH," She moaned, slamming her head back down on the table next to her computer. Amethyst stared at her, thinking of what to do. It was a little hypocritical coming from her, but overworking yourself was the worst, and this girl needed to take a break, like for her own health. She flitted her eyes over to the door, making sure of no new customers before speaking. Slow morning, she guessed.

"Okay, you know what, give me your laptop, and I'll look it over, okay?" Peridot lifted her head from the table at this. _She had REALLY nice eyes,_ Amethyst thought to herself as she smiled at her. They were emerald green with little specks of hazel, and in the sun filtering the windows of the coffee shop they almost seemed to glow.

"Really, you'd do that?" Peridot said cheeks reddening, "I mean I hardly know you…" Her voice was nasally and monotone, but cracked as she said that. Amethyst smiled- she was funny.

"Yeah, no problem. Today's a slow day anyway and you look like you could really use a break, like a nap or something." Peridot smiled for a second, but then frowned abruptly.

"I don't think I can do that," She said wearily, "I've kind of been staying at a friends place at night, I can't really afford an apartment at the moment, I've been looking for one. But the offer was very cordial, thank you Amethyst."

Amethyst smiled at the use of her name, but then froze.

She was looking for an apartment.

 _She was looking FOR AN APARTMENT._


End file.
